Quantum has landed in the USA
My Quantum CD Transport has arrived! She is gorgeous. And can she sing. My Set up in my Den is all done. I'm just waiting for some wire to arrive to make an 8 ' power cord for my amp. So I had to Listen to her in my shop. All the same gear that will go in my den.
There are no audio society's or clubs where I live, and not a high end audio shop in a hundred miles. So I have nothing to compare it to. But all I can say is it sounds great. Cymbal sound just right, and for the first time, brush's on a drum actually sound like brush's on a drum. Also bass is fuller. And vocals are to die for.
My system is a tubelab 300B single end amp. Built as 2 units, with a completely separate power supply, with all Poly caps. No electrolytic. The amp section was built with all Vishay Naked Z foil resistors, and custom made Naked S foils for the higher watt resistors. My DAC is a Jolida Glass FX Tube DAC, That I completely replaced all the parts on the power supply brd. and the tube analog output brd. with Silmic II capacitors, and Poly Tube Caps from Mundorf for the rail that powers the analog tube output brd. And all Vishay naked Z Foil resistors, and Stealth caps for the output caps. And the Quantum CD Transport. Madisound BK-16 speakers. Cables are VH Audio solid silver interconnects with WBT Next Gen Silver Male RCA's. Digital cable is VH Audio solid silver center conductor Pulsar 75 ohm coax cable with WBT Next Gen silver male RCA's. Internal wiring from silver female RCA's to circuit brds are also silver pulsar coax. Power cords are VH Audio Flavor ones for transport and DAC. And Flavor two for 300B amp and Crown subwoofer amp. And two bucket subwoofers.
Took me about two years and a bunch of $$$ to build this system. And so far I am very satisfied. I really think I out did my self. And with Tibi's Quantum CD transport as the crowning glory, I couldn't be happier.
I'll give a better report once I have some hours of listening behind me.
Thank you for listening to me ramble.
My Quantum CD Transport has arrived! She is gorgeous. And can she sing. My Set up in my Den is all done. I'm just waiting for some wire to arrive to make an 8 ' power cord for my amp. So I had to Listen to her in my shop. All the same gear that will go in my den.
There are no audio society's or clubs where I live, and not a high end audio shop in a hundred miles. So I have nothing to compare it to. But all I can say is it sounds great. Cymbal sound just right, and for the first time, brush's on a drum actually sound like brush's on a drum. Also bass is fuller. And vocals are to die for.
My system is a tubelab 300B single end amp. Built as 2 units, with a completely separate power supply, with all Poly caps. No electrolytic. The amp section was built with all Vishay Naked Z foil resistors, and custom made Naked S foils for the higher watt resistors. My DAC is a Jolida Glass FX Tube DAC, That I completely replaced all the parts on the power supply brd. and the tube analog output brd. with Silmic II capacitors, and Poly Tube Caps from Mundorf for the rail that powers the analog tube output brd. And all Vishay naked Z Foil resistors, and Stealth caps for the output caps. And the Quantum CD Transport. Madisound BK-16 speakers. Cables are VH Audio solid silver interconnects with WBT Next Gen Silver Male RCA's. Digital cable is VH Audio solid silver center conductor Pulsar 75 ohm coax cable with WBT Next Gen silver male RCA's. Internal wiring from silver female RCA's to circuit brds are also silver pulsar coax. Power cords are VH Audio Flavor ones for transport and DAC. And Flavor two for 300B amp and Crown subwoofer amp. And two bucket subwoofers.
Took me about two years and a bunch of $$$ to build this system. And so far I am very satisfied. I really think I out did my self. And with Tibi's Quantum CD transport as the crowning glory, I couldn't be happier.
I'll give a better report once I have some hours of listening behind me.
Thank you for listening to me ramble.
She is sounding better everyday. She still has a while to go until she is broken in. I haven't read anything on how long the Dueland cap takes to break in. And I'm sure other things need to break in.
I put 350 hrs on my tube lab amp to break in the Psvane Treasure II 300B tubes. But I didn't make the VH Audio Flavor one and two power cords, the digital cable, and the interconnect from my power amp to my sub woofer amp until I installed the stereo system in my den. So those things and the transport have to break in.
Also I only have about 350 hours on my BK-16 speakers, and I heard that the Fostex FE166En speakers need 4 to 5 hundred hours before they sound their best.
All I know is that the system sounds great and is sounding better all the time.
I do wish I never found out about Gluon the R-2R ladder DAC. Now my little mind is trying to figure out how to save the money for one of these with out my wife finding out. Oh, the fun of this hobby.
But seriously The transport sounds wonderful. I do not regret the purchase one bit. Love it.
I put 350 hrs on my tube lab amp to break in the Psvane Treasure II 300B tubes. But I didn't make the VH Audio Flavor one and two power cords, the digital cable, and the interconnect from my power amp to my sub woofer amp until I installed the stereo system in my den. So those things and the transport have to break in.
Also I only have about 350 hours on my BK-16 speakers, and I heard that the Fostex FE166En speakers need 4 to 5 hundred hours before they sound their best.
All I know is that the system sounds great and is sounding better all the time.
I do wish I never found out about Gluon the R-2R ladder DAC. Now my little mind is trying to figure out how to save the money for one of these with out my wife finding out. Oh, the fun of this hobby.
But seriously The transport sounds wonderful. I do not regret the purchase one bit. Love it.
CD stops at same place everytime.
Hi there,
I've had my shigaclone two years and it's run trouble free until a week or so ago. It initially stopped reading disks altogether when trying to get TOC. I replaced the entire CD laser mech as inspection with a camera showed poor laser output.
I thought great problem solved, but now the CD gets stuck at the same point no matter what the CD, a quick push of the fast forward key gets it past and then it plays flawlessly to the end. I've tried 3 other CD mechs and they all do the same which means it isn't something mechanical with the mech. I also replaced the laser mech ribbon cable and motor control cable. No difference is made. I'm at a loss to explain this.
Any suggestions to resolve this would be welcome. I do have a spare complete shigaclone control board and will try this later this week out of curiosity. Rather original one worked as it has all the bling components.
Kindest Regards, Aleks.
Hi there,
I've had my shigaclone two years and it's run trouble free until a week or so ago. It initially stopped reading disks altogether when trying to get TOC. I replaced the entire CD laser mech as inspection with a camera showed poor laser output.
I thought great problem solved, but now the CD gets stuck at the same point no matter what the CD, a quick push of the fast forward key gets it past and then it plays flawlessly to the end. I've tried 3 other CD mechs and they all do the same which means it isn't something mechanical with the mech. I also replaced the laser mech ribbon cable and motor control cable. No difference is made. I'm at a loss to explain this.
Any suggestions to resolve this would be welcome. I do have a spare complete shigaclone control board and will try this later this week out of curiosity. Rather original one worked as it has all the bling components.
Kindest Regards, Aleks.
Hi Tibi,
The CD would play until exactly 4:37 and then not play anymore as if paused or badly scratched, this happened with every CD I played. Advancing the CD using the fast forward just a fraction would clear this problem and the CD would play to the end fine.
I'm happy to say it's fixed. I resoldered the ribbon connector socket on the control board and adjusted the height of the CD relative to the laser head. It doesn't work at the suggested height but is fine with slightly less in distance.
I'm happy and sipping some whisky with some good music.
Thanks, Aleks
The CD would play until exactly 4:37 and then not play anymore as if paused or badly scratched, this happened with every CD I played. Advancing the CD using the fast forward just a fraction would clear this problem and the CD would play to the end fine.
I'm happy to say it's fixed. I resoldered the ribbon connector socket on the control board and adjusted the height of the CD relative to the laser head. It doesn't work at the suggested height but is fine with slightly less in distance.
I'm happy and sipping some whisky with some good music.
Thanks, Aleks
Short update on those who ordered Shiga MKII on 1st December.
Kindly ask you to use mail for communication as the inbox here get full very quickly.
Have started to ship orders placed on 1st December. I got an unexpected large number of orders and I'll do my best to ship all of them till Christmas.
As bonus, I decided to ship as many orders I can with vertical SMD placed parts.
Each unit is handmade mounted and double tested (before and after solvent cleaning).
You'll receive an mail from me with tracking when goods are shipped.
Thank you !
Regards,
Tibi
Kindly ask you to use mail for communication as the inbox here get full very quickly.
Have started to ship orders placed on 1st December. I got an unexpected large number of orders and I'll do my best to ship all of them till Christmas.
As bonus, I decided to ship as many orders I can with vertical SMD placed parts.
Each unit is handmade mounted and double tested (before and after solvent cleaning).
You'll receive an mail from me with tracking when goods are shipped.
Thank you !
Regards,
Tibi
recommended capacitors
Hello Tibi,
I am not sure which parts to use for C10, C43 and C19.
For C10 and C43 you recommended to use Sanyo OSCON 270uF earlier, which are not produced anymore, but can be found on eBay as NOS. Or I can get Panasonic OSCON SEPC capacitors here in Austria, which are new and have even lower ESR.
For C19 you recommended Rubicon BG PK 47uF earlier - I have a 50V NOS one here, which I could use. But I am wondering, if a new Panasonic OSCON SEP capacitor will be better with respect to life time.
What is your recommendation ?
Regards
Christoph
Hello Tibi,
I am not sure which parts to use for C10, C43 and C19.
For C10 and C43 you recommended to use Sanyo OSCON 270uF earlier, which are not produced anymore, but can be found on eBay as NOS. Or I can get Panasonic OSCON SEPC capacitors here in Austria, which are new and have even lower ESR.
For C19 you recommended Rubicon BG PK 47uF earlier - I have a 50V NOS one here, which I could use. But I am wondering, if a new Panasonic OSCON SEP capacitor will be better with respect to life time.
What is your recommendation ?
Regards
Christoph
For C10 I still recommend Sanyo OSCON, or a very good tantalum.
For C43 you may go up to 1000uF a polymer is OK.
C19 must be low leakage, again tantalum can be used instead BG PK.
Please note that not all tantalum capacitors are the same. Look for kemet at-55÷125°C.
Tip: add across C19 a 1nF silver-mica (made by CD) and be amassed by how much detail and resolution Shiga MKII can extract from CD.
Regards,
Tibi
Last edited by a moderator:
capacitors
Hi Tibi,
sorry - even more questions yet.
According to the fotos of the Shiga mk2 board C19 allready is tantalum ? Would the BG PK capacitor still be a good choice ? With polymer you mean Sanyo OSCON ?
So the recommendation is:
C10 Sanyo OSCON 270uF 16V
C43 Sanyo OSCON 1000uF 16V + 1nF Silva Mica
C19 good tantalum (low leakage) 47uF 16V
Thanks
Christoph
Hi Tibi,
sorry - even more questions yet.
According to the fotos of the Shiga mk2 board C19 allready is tantalum ? Would the BG PK capacitor still be a good choice ? With polymer you mean Sanyo OSCON ?
So the recommendation is:
C10 Sanyo OSCON 270uF 16V
C43 Sanyo OSCON 1000uF 16V + 1nF Silva Mica
C19 good tantalum (low leakage) 47uF 16V
Thanks
Christoph
capacitors
correction Silva Mica parallel to C19 not C43:
According to the fotos of the Shiga mk2 board C19 allready is tantalum? Would the BG PK capacitor still be a good choice (also paralleld with SM?)? With polymer you mean Sanyo OSCON?
If I understood correct your recommendation is:
C10 Sanyo OSCON 270uF 16V
C43 Sanyo OSCON 1000uF 16V
C19 good tantalum (low leakage) 47uF 16V + 1nF Silva Mica
Thanks again
Christoph
correction Silva Mica parallel to C19 not C43:
According to the fotos of the Shiga mk2 board C19 allready is tantalum? Would the BG PK capacitor still be a good choice (also paralleld with SM?)? With polymer you mean Sanyo OSCON?
If I understood correct your recommendation is:
C10 Sanyo OSCON 270uF 16V
C43 Sanyo OSCON 1000uF 16V
C19 good tantalum (low leakage) 47uF 16V + 1nF Silva Mica
Thanks again
Christoph
Thanks Tibi. Much excitement over here. I am curious just how many good boys and girls are expecting Shiga from Santa this year? Where in the world are you shipping to for example?
Looking forward to becoming a member of the Wow club.
SMDs like to do it standing up!!!